SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA baseball team battled through a high-scoring matchup against No. 10 East Carolina in conference action, falling just short by 14-10 on Saturday afternoon at Roadrunner Field.
QUICK HITS
· Two Roadrunners had three-hit games, including Tye Odom (3-for-5 with five RBI and one run) and Hector Rodriguez (3-for-5 with one run).
· UTSA fell to an 11-12 overall record (1-1 in American Athletic Conference play), while No. 10 East Carolina fell to a 16-5 record (1-1 in conference action).
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
After starting pitcher Fischer Kingsbery forced a quick 1-2-3 inning in the top of the first, the Roadrunners opened up scoring in the bottom of the frame. A couple of singles opened things up, before a sacrifice fly by Ty Tilson drove in Mason Lytle for a 1-0 UTSA lead.
The second inning went scoreless, before East Carolina took a 3-1 advantage in the third frame with a couple of singles and a sacrifice fly. Another scoreless frame commenced in the fourth. Zach Royse forced a three up, three down frame in the fifth, giving the Roadrunners momentum for the bottom of the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, the first six UTSA batters reached base. An error and two singles loaded the bases with no outs for King to then drive in two of those runners with a single. A few plays later, there were runners on the corners with one out. Odom then hit a double to right field to drive in the final run of the frame and give UTSA a 4-3 advantage.
The Pirates then regained the lead in the top of the sixth as a three-run frame gave ECU a 6-4 lead. The Roadrunners tried to get something going with a couple of singles and a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the inning, but nothing came from it.
East Carolina put up a big inning in the sixth in which six runs scored to extend its lead to 12-4. In the seventh inning, Braylon Owens picked up a 1-2-3 frame with a couple of groundouts and a flyout.
The Roadrunners came up big in the bottom of the eighth, scoring six runs on three hits and an error. With runners on the corners, UTSA took advantage of an error by ECU’s third baseman as one runner came in to score.
Next, a single by Caleb Hill loaded the bases with still one out on the board. After a pitching change by the Pirates, the first pitch thrown hit James Taussig to bring in the runner from third for the second run of the inning.
With the bases still loaded, Odom came up to the plate and watched the first pitch fall outside of the strike zone for a 1-0 count. He then unleashed on the next pitch he saw, launching it past the wall in left center for a grand slam to cut UTSA’s deficit to 12-10.
The Pirates tacked on another pair of runs in the top of the ninth to make the score 14-10. The Roadrunners were not able to beat three 0-2 pitch counts in the bottom of the ninth as UTSA fell to No. 10 East Carolina by 14-10 on Saturday afternoon.
ON DECK
The Roadrunners and Pirates play the rubber match on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Roadrunner Field.
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